So you want to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour? I didn't go into business, take a huge, several-hundred-thousand-dollar risk to make minimum wage myself. I started washing dishes at minimum wage 40 years ago, worked my way up and now own my own business.

I own a small restaurant with 11 employees that has average monthly sales of $70,000. I do have other expenses: food, beverages, repairs, utilities, paper supplies, insurance, taxes, equipment and rent, to name a few. I treat my employees fairly. I provide a clean, positive, well-run work environment, with excellent food and customer service. I provide free shift meals, offer medical and dental insurance at a reduced cost for full-time employees. My employees receive tips as well as discounts from surrounding businesses.

I start most of my new hires at minimum wage, then, based on their performance, give them a raise within their first 30 to 60 days. I give merit raises based on performance, annual performance reviews and raises. These are all incentives to work harder and perform better. With a $15 per hour minimum wage, that would go away. I would have no room to pay them any more, and they would have no incentive to work harder. That creates a lose-lose for me — but minimum-wage-hike advocates will have won the battle. Congrats!

I give holiday bonuses ranging from $25 for a new employee up to $250. I give my employees Blazers, Timbers and other tickets — as I either buy them or get them from my vendors — as a thank you for my employees' work and dedication. Those would all go away as well. No incentives, no thank yous, no extras.

There is a range of what I pay based on experience, position and longevity. It ranges from minimum wage to $13 per hour. How do I make your new wage equitable for everyone? Do I keep those same principles? If so, I would have my highest hourly employee making over $21 per hour. Or do I punish my higher-skilled, longer-tenured employees (10-plus years) and pay everyone $15, giving raises only when mandated by the state or federal government?

Here is roughly how it would pencil out both ways based on my current payroll. I have one manager on salary, so that is a constant rate. That manager makes $40,000, gets two weeks paid vacation and a bonus. Breaking down that salary on what he works, he would be right around that same $15 per hour. So, how do I justify that and pay him the same (ballpark range) as my other employees? I would have to significantly increase his salary in a comparable way, though I really don't know how my business could afford it. What do you suggest?

In case you forgot, I also pay workers-comp insurance and payroll taxes, both based on payroll dollars. My labor cost this year is approximately 26 percent, plus insurance and taxes — so, figure 32 percent total. If the minimum wage went up to $15 per hour, my labor cost would jump to 33.3 percent before taxes — a figure close to 40 percent with taxes. If the minimum wage went up to $15 per hour, and if I paid based on experience, position and longevity ($15 to $21 per hour, say, with an $18 average), my labor costs would go to 40 percent before taxes — or 46 to 48 percent with taxes.

In addition to this, consider overtime. That is one and a half times the normal rate. So, "Mr. $15 An Hour," I will do the math for you: At $15 per hour, that would be $22.50 an hour. For my highest-paid hourly employee at the new rate — $21 per hour — that would be $31.50 per hour for overtime. If your solution is not to give overtime, you have never been in the restaurant business (or any other hourly wage business) and are out of touch with reality of the real working world. People call in sick, they have sick kids and need to stay home with them. They have hangovers (yes, they drink and can't work), their car breaks down, they'd rather go to the beach, or they have various other issues. I need to cover their shifts to make sure my restaurant functions properly, which means overtime.

So please stop. Go back to your Occupy Portland or whatever the "cause du jour" is on the menu. I simply cannot afford this as a small business owner. Furthermore, if this does go through, you will be the first to complain when I raise my prices so I can make minimum wage.